I've been intrigued by the look of kamisoris for some time, but never taken the plunge. Looking at extensive pictures, what I can gather is that the grind appears to be hollow-ish on one side and flat on the other. How do you hone or strop them? Is there a different way to hold the considerably different shaped handle, or is it still basically the same as western straights? What do you look for when shopping for vintage ones? I don't recall ever seeing anyone addressing the topic of venturing into kamisori razors from the beginning before. Thanks everybody!
Here is a thread devoted to the Kamisori razors. https://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/lets-talk-kamisori.52159/ ..
Tons of info in @DaltonGang's thread, including some of the videos from gssixgun's honing tutorials. I've used those successfully to pull back 2 heavily over used traditional grind kamisoris purchased on d'Bay. To sum a few of your questions..... Traditional grind kamisoris have an asymmetrical grind. One side slightly hollowed, the other more wedge like in appearance. Western grind kamisoris are more like most straight razors, ground evenly on both sides. I've watched a lot of videos on honing and stropping, mostly those by gssixgun or Lynn Abrams. A western grind is honed exactly like any western grind straight (obviously). A traditonal grind honing and stropping....opinions vary. They get all into ratios of honing each side (omote/ura) differently. I have been successful with Glen's 3:1 technique. These web pages also give some great kamisori information (too much for me to retype).... Japanese straight razors and kamisoris A Kamisori Primer - Sharpologist Shopping for vintage....that's where it can get crazy $, depending on what you are looking for or wanting. Iwasaki is 'da best' according to most knowledged folks. Very spendy to get one in good shape. Love to have one....just not at the top of a priority list. I have designs from J3Customs in western grind kamisoris. Nice quality, nice price. Several Japanese steel scaled kamisoris that are western grinds as well. Traditional grinds I have a scaled NOS scaled Seiko, and two New Azuma 'Yasuki Steel' which is a knock off with decent quality of the Iwasaki era (supposedly some of the employees venturing out on their own, if the internet is to be believed). Holding a kamisori....I'm a non conformist, can't really be a lot of help. I watched a ton of kamisori and straight razor, traditonal grind or western grind videos. I use whatever works for shaving with any open edge razor.....sometimes I'm holding like you'd see in a video, sometimes I'm holding it by the blade, sometimes I'm holding it like a butter knife. Hope that helps some! More questions, comments?....ask away!
Thanks for the info, guys! There seems to be a large amount of NOS plain jane kamis on the bay right now from a seller in New York, https://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-Kamisori-Japanese-Straight-Razor-With-Box/274317961719 this being one of them. A lot of them have the devil spit, so clearly they weren't being stored in the best of conditions, but what do more experienced buyers think of them? Worth the investment? I'm confident I can do a waxed twine wrap to make the handle nicer, I just don't want to waste money if there are warning signs I'm not aware of. The same seller has some other, western style razors that catch my fancy too, but in light of my new look, a razor designed for shaving the head has a certain appeal. And of course I can't afford $700 for a razor...
I've purchased from that seller before, in fact, my NOS Seiko scaled Kamisori is from them. Many of those should be quite serviceable for a lifetime.
Thanks for the reassurance. After examining them, I chose this one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-Sukemi...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 I hope the link works. I've been wrestling with my idiotic phone trying to get the thing to give me a regular webpage so I could copy the link... Let me know if it didn't work, I'll have to pull the link off a real computer if so. Sent from my LGUS992 using Tapatalk
This pic on that listing also shows the grinds rather well They are hollow on both sides but NOT even which makes them "Asymmetrical" That listing was a good price and looked to be in great shape Note there was no bad hone wear on the front or the back, I hope you got it
If that is from the Sukemitsu listing, I did. It's supposed to have just been delivered to the receptionist here at work, so I'm going to take a look. Sent from my LGUS992 using Tapatalk
And here it is! Clearly I will have to clean up the edge. As it is, it doesn't cut any hairs, but it arrived on the same day as my new 1000/6000 stone, so I should be able to bring it up to snuff pretty soon. I also located my ball of waxed string over the weekend, so I will get the handle wrapped soon too. Sent from my LGUS992 using Tapatalk
So, following some advice I was given, I'm sending the King hone I received yesterday back for a refund. As such, my bevel setter is an American Hone Co. Super Punjab, and then I refine the edge with my Belgian Yellow (coticule). After a few passes on the Super Punjab, it was clear that the factory bevel is not even. It appeared to have a different bevel angle at the toe than at the middle and heel. After a bit more work it became apparent that there is a fissure in the steel at the heel. I'm including pics to illustrate, but I apologize that my phone isn't very good a close up pictures. After working quite a bit on correcting the bevel, which was rounded shallow in the middle, I have found that there is also a fissure in the middle of the bevel too. For now I think I can just ignore them, but if I'm not mistaken, this could be a very bad sign for this blade. Any more experienced opinions care to chime in? Sent from my LGUS992 using Tapatalk
Depends on how far you want to take the bevel down. If the fissure is not on the very edge, and is stable, I would ignore it. If it is on the tip of the bevel, then you probably need to breadknife the bevel out, until a clean edge is found.
It is closest to the edge at the heel, but even there, it is just abaft the edge by a mm or so. I actually was attempting to hone that one out when I discovered the other which is dead in the middle of the bevel (although it is curvy) and at that point I decided to just put it down for now. If I hone it down much more, I will have to reshape the heel
